Sourdough French Toast
This homemade sourdough french toast recipe is subtly sweet, perfectly crisp, and complete with a fluffy, chewy middle. Slices of sourdough bread soaked in egg, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon and fried on a hot skillet. Top with maple syrup, fresh berries, or whipped cream for the perfect weekend breakfast treat!
Table of Contents
What Makes This Recipe Great
Thanksgiving morning? Making french toast. Christmas morning? Making french toast. There just isn’t a holiday or special occasion where sourdough french toast isn’t on the menu!
And like a true San Francisco girl, I love sourdough french toast. The regular version is too sweet for me. The sourness of the sourdough bread cuts through the sweetness of the syrup, and I don’t feel like I ate a pound of sugar for breakfast.
The best part? It still has all the fluffy, chewy, crispy perfection of classic french toast, but in my opinion, it’s more delicious!
Ingredient Notes
Milk: You can use your preferred milk (whole milk, 2%, 1%, nonfat), or even dairy-free milk (almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk, etc).
Eggs: I like using organic, pasture-raised eggs, but feel free to use what you have on hand.
Vanilla: I like to use the organic vanilla extract from Sprouts or Trader Joe’s.
Cinnamon: Add more or less depending on your love for this spice!
Sourdough Bread: I love sliced sourdough sandwich bread, Trader Joe’s makes my favorite. I really enjoy the combination of the sour and sweet. You can also use stale sourdough bread as a way to save it on its way out. Thin slices or thickly sliced, it’s your choice!
Butter: You can use whatever butter you prefer- and if you need to be dairy free, feel free to use vegan butter (& non-dairy milk!).
Recipe Step by Step
- Make the Batter: In a 9×13 baking dish, make the batter by combining milk, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon. Beat to combine.
- Soak Bread: Dredge 2 or 3 slices of bread (or however many you can fit in your skillet at a time) in the batter, turning it 3 times and pressing on the bread while it’s in the batter so it absorbs the liquid.
- Cook: Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the first side of the battered bread for about 3-4 minutes until crispy and golden brown. Then, cook the second side until it is also crispy, another 2-3 minutes.
How to Serve This Recipe
While making this sourdough french toast, I like to preheat my oven to 200 degrees and transfer the cooked slices from the frying pan to the oven. Keeping them in the oven in an oven-safe baking dish will keep them warm until you are ready to serve.
Then, I serve them warm with desired toppings. You can always serve yours along with your favorite scrambled eggs and bacon too!
Expert Tips
Leftover Batter: Toss out any unused batter. The egg mixture doesn’t keep well and if you want to make another batch at a later time, use fresh ingredients.
Storage: Leftovers will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week. You can reheat it on the stove in a pan, in the oven, or even in the toaster.
Keep it Warm: Preheat your oven to 200 degrees and keep the cooked slices warm by leaving them in the oven in an oven-safe baking dish while you make your batch. This way, when you’re ready to serve it, it’s nice and hot!
FAQs
Yes! Place your leftover cooked slices in a freezer bag and store them for up to 3 months. Separate layers with parchment paper so the pieces don’t stick together. Reheat in the microwave, oven, or stovetop, and top with your favorite toppings.
More Delicious Breakfast Recipes
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The Ultimate Sourdough French Toast
Ingredients
Sourdough French Toast
- 3 cups milk
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 12 slices sourdough bread
- 8 tablespoons butter
Serving Options
- maple syrup, butter, nut butter, fruit, nuts, whipped cream, etc.
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
- In a 9×13 baking dish, make the batter by combining the milk, eggs, vanilla and cinnamon. Beat to combine.
- Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
- Dredge 2 or 3 slices (or however many you can fit in your skillet at a time) of sourdough bread in the batter, turning it 3 times and pressing on the bread while it's in the batter so it absorbs the liquid.
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the warm skillet. Cook the first side of the battered bread for about 3-4 minutes until crispy and golden brown. Cook the second side until it is also crispy, another 2-3 minutes.
- Keep the cooked slices warm by leaving it in the oven in an oven safe baking dish.
- Repeat dredging the bread and cooking it.
- Serve warm with desired toppings.
- Will keep an airtight container container for 1 week. You can reheat it on the stove in a pan, in the oven, or even in the toaster.
- See the Recipe Notes below for more tips, FAQ's and ingredient substitutions.
48 Comments on “Sourdough French Toast”
Natalie, I can see that this would make for a special start to the day. I love sourdough, it makes everything tastier. I cannot wait to wake up for this.
It sure is a fantastic way to start the day Kim! French toast is one of my family’s favorite breakfasts. Making it with sourdough bread is the secret. I sure hope you enjoy it!
I’ve been working on a sourdough recipe for a few months now, and I have been looking for a way to use up the end of a loaf when I have too much that will get stale soon. This is the perfect solution! I was skeptical that sourdough would make good French toast, but I was pleasantly surprised. Definitely going to become a regular recipe for us. I thought making bread from scratch was satisfying, but this just takes it to a whole new level! Thank you for sharing!
Yeah! I am so happy you liked my sourdough french bread recipe Logan! I too was skeptical that sourdough would make good french toast, but now it is my very favorite! I am so glad this will become part of your regular recipe rotation.
Great recipe! Easy to remember, hard to mess up, and most importantly, not too sweet! (One of my old favorite french toast recipes is Robert Irvine’s, but he adds a LOT of sugar. And doesn’t use sourdough).
I topped mine with some mixed berries that I had (blueberries, blackberries and raspberries). It was good, but those berries tend to lean a bit sour as well. Next time I plan to put banana slices which I think will be PERFECTION.
Next time? Yes, because I WILL make this again. And I won’t say anything here about going to your house, because I don’t know you! lol. :-)
So glad you liked it Nicole! Thank you! My very very very very favorite breakfast. It’s what I always requested growing up for my birthday : ) Topping it with fresh fruit is a great idea! So glad you’ll be making it again. Thanks for taking the time to share such kindness with me. Means the world!
what brand of sour dough bread do you use? It looks good.
Trader Joe’s brand!
Loves it! I sub the butter for coconut oil. Though different taste, still very good.
I’m so glad you liked it Benny! And how crazy is this: I made this french toast for breakfast yesterday too WITH COCONUT OIL! Great minds think alike! We’re 100% dairy free now, and I almost like it better with the coconut oil. Thanks for letting me know you liked my recipe, you made my day!
I’ve made this 4 times in the last 2 weeks! Making it for the fifth time tonight! This is by far the best french toast I’ve ever made. Honestly I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to eat french toast at a restaurant again after having this. The sourdough makes amazing french toast and I never in a million years would have thought of it myself.
After years of trying out various recipes and different types of bread, this recipe is definitely my winner. Thank you for sharing it!
Chrissy! You have made my day! I’m so glad you love it. It’s my favorite french toast. It’s actually ruined all restaurant french toast for me. I like mine thin and crispy, but restaurants are always THICK and “mushy”. And the combo of sour and sweet is the best! You are too nice. Glad you like my recipe. Hope you have the best weekend!
3 cups of milk? Are we feeding an army? Anyone else find this an excessive amount of milk?
I’ve heard others say this is a lot of milk. But it’s how we’ve always made it in my family!
I think I just wasted 3 cups milk and 4 eggs. Did you mean 3cups milk??? Or more like 1/3 cup milk?
This looks nothing like French toast batter…
Hi Steve, the measurements are correct. This is the recipe I’ve always used for my french toast batter, and everyone I’ve made it for loves it. Keep making it, should be delicious! Have a great rest of your weekend, and thanks for reading my blog : )